


This is not the end.

by galaxyostars



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Grief/Mourning, The Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 07:10:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13758933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxyostars/pseuds/galaxyostars
Summary: MAJOR STAR WARS REBELS SEASON 4 SPOILERSAs he watches the yellow hue of the fire in the distance, Ezra has never felt more alone. In his eyes, the Empire just won.





	This is not the end.

**Author's Note:**

> We were robbed of this scene in "Dume" in favor of a scene . . . with _wolves_. 
> 
> Filoni will never be forgiven. 
> 
> MAJOR SPOILERS FOR REBELS SEASON 4 THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING.

At some point, he'd have to return to the others.

Ezra Bridger was seated on the ground, knees pulled to his chest, eyes still watching the yellow hue of the fuel tanks in the distance. They'd burn for days. It was a small consolation for the ice in his chest.

He had no will to move. When it had happened, he hadn't quite believed it. Kanan had pushed the ship back, giving Ezra enough time and clarity to order Sabine to fly them the hell out of there, to break through to her. He'd held onto Hera, first in fear of her jumping off the ship again in those final few seconds, but then out of emotional necessity in their crisis.

Not crisis. _Devastation_.

The Empire had won. Pryce knew about Kanan's death. They held a parade in celebration of it, deliberately insult to injury. Zeb had suggested that it wasn't about Kanan, that it was about convincing Lothal that the Empire was still strong in the wake of this massive defeat, but with Hera's report on what exactly Pryce had done to her, this felt more like a personal party thrown by a monster than it was a cover for the morale of the Empire.

The Empire had won. The Rebels greatest strategist, leader and protector, his mentor, had been obliterated – and along with him, their hope for success. Sure, Obi-Wan Kenobi was on Tattooine, and Ezra knew that, but he also knew that Kenobi would not join this fight. The Jedi were done.

“Last I checked, _you_ are a Jedi.”

It was a small movement, but Ezra shook his head, chin pressed against forearms as he finally tore himself away from fires in the distance. There was silence as the breeze passed over him. He felt tired, his arms almost boneless as they clung around his knees.

“Ezra, you need to go back.”

His blue eyes flickered to the right, but he made no move to look at him. “Why? The Empire isn't looking for us right now. And camp . . . I can't face Hera right now. Not after I did nothing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I did nothing. I wasn't fast enough to react, I wasn't strong enough to-” Ezra sucked in a deep breath, a fist clenching as anger got the better of him. He was waging an internal war, and losing. “I didn't help. I didn't even try to pull Hera back on board.”

“Do you really believe you could have stopped Hera by yourself?”

“If I had of kept a hold of her before she raced off, yes. I do.”

“Then you don't know Hera at all.”

A shiver ran up Ezra's spine as he looked back to the city. He was right. Nothing would have stopped Hera in that situation, especially when she'd been drugged in such a manner. He'd have wasted time and energy trying, and it would have only distracted Kanan further.

“As for reacting fast enough,” He continued, taking a seat next to the boy. “There was no time to react.”

“ _You_ managed to!”

There was silence for a few moments, but a response did come. “I already knew.”

Ezra scoffed, his eyes rolling to flicker toward the left, now avoiding him completely. “Of course you did. You felt it coming before we could even see it.”

“No, Ezra. It . . . it wasn't like that. Before it happened, before we went after Hera . . . it's hard to explain.”

He couldn't believe what he was hearing, his fist clenching again. “So you _knew_?” The boy exclaimed. “You _knew_ and you said _nothing_? You didn't prepare us-”

“Ezra.”

He felt eyes linger on him, and Ezra forced himself to take another breath, tears welling in his own eyes. He refused to look at him, in case he wasn't truly there, in case this was a falsehood of his own creation. He couldn't handle that right now.

“If you knew,” He continued. “You would have tried to stop me.”

“Because we _need_ you! _I_ need you! We could have found some other way to rescue Hera!”

“No, Ezra. We wouldn't have, not really. You'd have been too distracted by what _might_ have happened to get to Hera in time. There was no certainty what I knew would happen." He gave a quiet huff. "It was a choice I had to make myself.”

His throat felt tight, tears falling as he hugged himself tighter. “I don't know how I'm meant to do this without you.”

There was silence again, but there was a strange sense of comfort in that silence.

“All I can tell you, is to look forward.” He finally said. “If you keep looking back and thinking about ifs or maybes, you will fall down a path of which the others can't follow. Don't let this control you. Trust yourself.”

“Trust in the Force.”

Ezra sobbed, trying desperately to suck in a full breath as the composure he'd maintained for the last handful of hours finally broke down. But this time, there was no one to console him. He wouldn't run after Zeb, or Hera, or Sabine. And the cold reality was that Kanan wasn't there. He would never be there again.

But through the horror and the overbearing sense of devastation, a feeling of confidence and comfort that wasn't his own fell over him.

“I can't guide you past this point.” He said quietly. “But I am _proud_ of the man you've become. And your parents would be, too. We'll always be with you.”

And just like that, the breeze ceased. Ezra sniffed again, eyes moving up one last time to the burning fires in the city. He unwrapped his arms from his knees, and pushed himself up from the ground. He still felt cold, was still dazed. But this fight wasn't over.

This wasn't the end. Not yet.


End file.
